The method and apparatus of this invention for the application of grated cheese to pizza shells is a specific application of this apparatus and method. It will be readily apparent that the apparatus is also equally suitable for the automated application of other food products in particle form to other types of suitable receiving units, such as edible food products or simply appropriate containers for the storage and retention of such grated food particles.
The specific objective of this invention is the provision of suitable apparatus and technique of operation to effect the further automated placement of a layer of particles of the grated food product onto the upper receiving surface of a pizza shell in a predetermined area configuration and layer thickness in effectuating an automated production line manufacture of pizza. Specifically, the apparatus is designed for utilization by food processors who form and fabricate pizzas for sale in a frozen form suitable for subsequent baking by the ultimate consumer. While it is this specific utilization to which the invention is directed, it will be readily understood that the invention and the technique of performing the operations will be equally adaptable to other situations in connection with the production of pizzas and can easily include producers of pizzas in a completely baked form ready for consumption. It will be readily apparent that the specific application and utilization will be determined by the economics of the situation and will be particularly desirable where the production capacity required at a particular location warrants the expense and cost of an automated machine when compared with the high labor costs normally associated with large quantity production facilities.
With respect to the production of pizza, the most common and reliable production techniques heretofore utilized involve a substantial amount of manual labor in the application of the various food products to the surface of the pizza shells. Such large production capacity facilities often utilize conveyor lines but individual personnel are utilized at the respective stations for the application of the tomato sauces, sliced meats, cheeses and other food products, such as mushrooms or anchovies, in the sequential formation of the surface layers on a pizza shell. The disadvantage of such manual procedures is that the uniformity of the end product is difficult to control. Each individual person introduces a minor variation even though particular control techniques are utilized. Such control techniques may be the use of measuring devices, such as scoops, cups or other types of containers which enable the operator to utilize, with a degree of uniformity, a specific amount of a particular product that is to be distributed on the surface of a pizza.
While these techniques do provide a certain degree of control and uniformity in the end products as to the quantities, there still remains a substantial variation in the amounts of materials that may be applied. More particularly, there will be a substantial variation in the arrangement and location of the allotted quantity of any particular food product that may be initially accurately measured. This is particularly true in a case of the application of grated cheeses. Grated cheese must necessarily be supplied to operating personnel in grated form as the time factor does not permit grating by the operator immediately prior to application. Grated cheese, however, due to the inherent characteristics of cheeses, has a tendency to form into a conglomerate mass that is difficult to separate without expenditure of a substantial amount of time and effort on the part of the operator, and which generally not entirely successful. It is also nearly impossible to grate the cheese and provide it in a state where the operating personnel may readily separate the grated particles which are in strips, shreds and other smaller particles, to enable the operator to evenly distribute those particles in a desired uniform thickness pattern over the surface of the pizza and to ultimately achieve the desired uniform quality in appearance and taste. Such a time expenditure represents a material cost factor in the high capacity production facilities and is, therefore, an important factor that is always present in the economic considerations of manual grated cheese application procedures. As indicated, these manual operation techniques represent a substantial cost factor and inherently prevent minimizing production costs to maintain a competitive wholesale or retail price of the completed pizza. Another important factor in the economic cost is the substantial loss in the grated cheese products that occurs during such manual application procedures. Any cheese particles which are not initially placed on the upper surface of the pizza shell, are of necessity, a waste product that cannot be reused due to the requirements of health standards and statutory sanitation requirements for food producers.
Mechanized apparatus has been heretofore devised in attempts to provide automated pizza production facilities which include the application of grated cheeses to pizza shells. An example of such prior efforts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,618 issued to M. J. Vetta on Dec. 19, 1967. The apparatus disclosed in that patent includes a cheese receiving hopper which is provided with a grating mechanism at its lower or bottom end from which the grated cheese is discharged. The cheese is placed within this hopper and a vertically downward force is applied to the cheese to place a compressive force on the cheese thereby continuously urging the cheese against a grating plate. This grating plate is intermittently revolved, with respect to the cheese which is held stationary, as determined by the location of a pizza shell beneath the grating apparatus. The disadvantage of this apparatus, however, while it appears capable of adequately grating cheese by a mechanism and deposit directly onto a pizza shell, is that such mechanisms require intermittent operation of an underlying conveyor which transports the pizza shells below grating apparatus. Such intermittent conveyors are undesirable as it requires that all further food product applicators associated with the production of pizzas, also be intermittently operated in specific timed relationship to each other component. Specifically, the pizza shell transporting conveyor must be operated to place a respective shell beneath the grating apparatus and to then maintain the position of the pizza shell during the cheese grating and application procedure. This is true whether the apparatus utilizes a conveyor or is a semi-automated apparatus where operating personnel are still utilized to position pizza shells in assocation with the mechanism to receive the grated cheeses. A further disadvantage of such mechanisms is that the cheeses, as they are grated, are deposited in precisely the same area configuration as the cheese supplied. Cheese supplied for the purpose of fabricating pizzas is normally in the form of elongated blocks of rectangular cross-section. Accordingly, even utilizing multiple blocks to provide an adequate area of coverage only results in the formation of a similarly shaped area of such grated cheeses. The rotation of the grating device itself does not provide the desired control over the selected and desired area of coverage. Incorporation of funnels or other particle directing devices does not readily enhance the uniformity of the distribution of the food products and particles as they are grated. In fact, those elements often seriously impede the gravity feeding procedures due to the inherent adhesion characteristics of the cheese particles which ultimately tend to build-up and form on the interior surfaces of any such directing or funnel devices. Ultimately, the apparatus must be stopped for cleaning for continuation of the operation.